America’s New Number One Brewery

Which brewing company is America’s largest? The answer may seem obvious at first. You might think it is Anheuser-Busch, the makers of Bud Light and Budweiser. Nope, think again. Next guess, it must be MillerCoors, the makers of Coors Light. Wrong again. The largest American brewing company is D.G. Yuengling and Son of Pottsville, PA. “America’s oldest brewery” is now the largest as well. This information comes from Beer Marketer’s Insight, a leading source of beer industry information.

It is kind of a trick question. America’s biggest American beer brands are not really American beer at all anymore. Is your Honda an America car just because the Japanese company assembled it in Alabama?

It is not breaking news for anyone who pays attention, but Anheuser-Busch is a subsidiary of Anheuser-Busch Inbev, a Belgian-based company. MillerCoors is a joint venture of England’s SAB Miller and Molson-Coors, which operates out of Montreal and Denver but is not an American company. Even if you drink Pabst Blue Ribbon, a brand owned by an American investment firm, you are not drinking beer brewed by an American company. PBR outsources the brewing of its beer to MillerCoors, unless something has changed. It’s hard to keep track these days.

What’s more, there are deeper levels of complication. SAB Miller is actually a South African company and Inbev is actually a Brazilian company. I think it was William Shakespeare who said, “Oh the tangled web we weave when first we practice to conglomerate multi-nationally.”


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If you drink beer by any of those manufacturers, you should at least know where your money is going in the end. Me, and most of you reading this blog, prefer to drink American beer.

The New Number One


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The story of real interest to craft beer fans is that Yuengling and Sons recently surpassed Boston Beer (makers of Sam Adams) as America’s largest brewery. According to reports from Beer Marketers Insight’s, in 2011 Yuengling saw a 17 percent increase in production, upping its annual production to 2.5 million barrels. Yuengling attributes it success to the good people of Ohio. The brewery just completed its first full year of distribution in that large and thirsty state. Boston Beer produced 2.4 million barrels in 2011.

Another interesting fact, which I learned from a CNBC report while investigating this story, Budweiser is now the number three brand in America. Coors Light surpassed “The King of Beers” this year. For years, Budweiser sat in second place behind Bud Light.

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What’s so interesting about that? CNBC ran a Twitter poll asking people why they stopped drinking Budweiser. Unscientific, for sure, but kind of revealing. Poll results saw 68.1 percent of the respondents say that they replaced Budweiser with craft beer. Another 17.8 percent said it was because of the foreign ownership. The remaining 14.1 switched because of the calories.

Of the 68.1 percent of respondents who say they replaced Budweiser with craft beer, I wonder how many are talking about Shock Top, Blue Moon, Bud Light Amber Wheat or some other faux-craft brand? I suppose we should consider that a step in the right direction. Or not.

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